Adolescence: A Snapshot

Adolescence: A Snapshot

“It is the specific role of adolescents to drive popular culture forward to whatever is to be its next manifestation” (Youell, 2006, p. 61).

“Because so much is in flux in adolescence, the question Who am I? is asked with great passion and urgency. It is not a stretch to claim that forming the core of an identity is the pivotal task of adolescence, particularly in a culture as fixated on individual and unique representations of selfhood as ours. Much of what adolescents choose to do, whom they relate to, and how they spend their time is contingent upon the self they are seeking to create, test, and revise” (Nakkula and Toshalis, 2006, p. 18).

This keyword dictionary of adolescent development was created in Spring 2015 by graduate students in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in Art Education, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in the course ARTED 5220: Psychological, Sociological and Phenomenological Approaches to Teaching (with Professor Karyn Sandlos)

Adolescence: A Snapshot

Table of Contents

Ambiguity

by Jennifer Diaz

Awkward

by Justin Fell

Driver’s License

by Rachel Campbell

Explore

by Rita Crocker

Impulsive

by Daniella Martinez

Selfie

by Mary Milliken

1

3

5

7

9

11

Ambiguity

Jennifer Diaz

The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ambiguity is “open to more than one interpretation, having a double meaning; unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made.” By applying this definition to adolescent experience it becomes apparent that adolescence is a complex stage of human development.

The process of maturing and developing an identity in adolescence can be awkward and intimidating. When the meaning of adolescence is defined by textbook definitions it can become alarming to learn just how unclear the process of adolescent development is in practice. There are many ambiguities occurring simultaneously during adolescence. During adolescence there are physical changes, chemical shifts, constant gender negotiations, social stigmas and new economic boundaries.

According to Youell (2006), “Adolescence does not start or finish at a particular age, nor does it last for a particular length of time” (p. 61). Youell argues that all stages of development are somewhat ambiguous. This means that everyone develops at a different pace and time. Adolescence is in my opinion the most ambiguous developmental stage.

I chose to define ambiguity as a place to explore my past experience as an adolescent and my current connection to adolescence. I find myself frequently revisiting memories of my own adolescent experience. I find it helpful to recall and compare the adolescent stages of my life to my current state of early adulthood. I believe the ambiguity of adolescence should be constantly considered and reconsidered during all stages of life. It is important to remember that what may seem like clear instructions to the instructor or adult may seem very unclear to an individual in their adolescence.

There is an ambiguity between the lived experience and personal development that exists between the adult instructor and the adolescent student. The ambiguity between them is social, emotional, cognitive, developmental, experiential and creative.

As adults and educators, it is important to remind ourselves to be patient with adolescents during the listening process and learning stages. The art teacher’s mentoring is a dialectical and social practice. We must remind ourselves that teaching is also a learning process. Adolescents have ideas and opinions to offer teachers that should be valued and considered. As an educator I hope my students will feel free to let me know when I am being unclear. In return I hope to be patient and understanding during the ambiguous exchange of knowledge. My biggest fear is having a student who feels that they are not heard, respected or understood.

I think it is important to consider the adolescent’s view or position when planning a lesson and introducing ideas in the art room. Reflecting on my past experience as an adolescent making art, to my studio practice today, I have developed social and technical scaffolding for making artwork. It is important to step back from my current fluidity of making and understanding art and remind myself that learning, art and adolescence are all ambiguous processes.

Bosacki, S. (2012). Culture of ambiguity: Implications for self and social understanding in adolescence. Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Nakkula, M. and Toshalis, E. (2008). Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Youell, B. (2006). The learning relationship: Psychoanalytic thinking in education.London: Karnac Books. (Chapters 1&2)

Awkward

Justin Fell

When I think of adolescence, the first word that comes to mind is awkward. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines awkward as “not graceful, lacking skill, or difficult to use or handle.” My first confrontation with awkwardness occurred during my freshman year in high school, when I played on the lacrosse team. While some players evolved and improved, I was actually getting worse. Other players were always whacking me in the helmet, I spaced out and missed passes, and my cleats were constantly coming untied.

According to Nakkula and Toshalis (2006), “much of what adolescents choose to do, whom, they relate to, and how they spend their time is contingent upon the self they are seeking to create, test, and revise” (p. 18). I longed for a place where I could “create, test and revise” my identity and the lacrosse field was not that place. One day, I skipped lacrosse practice and auditioned for a school play. I was interested in comedic theatre, sketch comedy, and improv. I wanted to be in an environment where I could experiment with my awkwardness until it was considered funny, creative and appreciated.

To my surprise, I made the play. Theatre became my comfortable space, where awkwardness and normalcy were intertwined, and identity exploration was acceptable. According to Youell (2006), schools are places for “intense social experimentation, and it can sometimes seem that there is very little time or energy left for the business of getting an education” (p. 68). For me, theatre was where I could experiment and let out the awkward emotional tension of adolescence, and then go to class and learn like a “normal” student.

Recognizing and embracing my awkwardness through theatre became my way of contributing something positive, and feeling like I was fitting into my intimidating, oversized high school. Although awkwardness during adolescence can be daunting and stressful, it can also be meaningful. Finding meaning through awkwardness is easier when parents and teachers are non-­‐judgmental, encourage risk taking and give adolescents a safe place to discuss their issues.

As a future art educator, I am concerned about the rise of the standards movement and the embracement of “normalcy” in education. This “normalcy” seems to label or reject the idea of awkward.

According to Fendler and Muzaffar (2008), “teachers are expected to direct their lessons to a fiction called the Average Student, despite the fact that no student actually embodies the characteristics of that statistically generated average” (p. 67). This makes me question: what is normal? And is being awkward actually more “normal” than we think? For many people like myself, adolescence will always have some degree of awkwardness. The question is: are adolescents, teachers and parents brave enough to embrace, support and explore this awkwardness, along with and in support of adolescents?

Nakkula, M., & Toshalis, E. (2006). Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Youell, Biddy (2006). The Learning Relationship: Psychoanalytic Thinking in Education. London: Karmac.

Fendler L. & Muzaffar I. (2008). The history of the bell curve: sorting and the idea of normal. Educational Theory. 58 (1), 63-­‐82.

Driver’s License

Rachel Campbell

A driver’s license is often seen as a trivial piece of plastic that authorizes us to drive a vehicle.

However, to an adolescent, it signifies a monumental change. It is the first time that someone has certified them as an adult. A driver’s license provides most adolescents with their first real taste of freedom, responsibility and trust. The act of getting your driver’s license is just as important as the actual object itself. It kicks off the transition into adulthood and “is perceived as a significant rite of passage for students. At sixteen, students seek to prove this new-­‐found status by learning to drive” (Collinson, 1998, p. 5). A driver’s license helps teenagers to understand their identity by giving them a tangible representation of their social and emotional development.

During adolescence, our concept of who we are is constantly shifting and considering oneself an adult is a part of that identity reconfiguration. The adolescent is looking to gain all of the freedom and respect that being an adult affords; however, the adolescent may still not fully comprehend the responsibility. By getting a driver’s license adolescents are demonstrating to themselves and the adults in their lives that they trustworthy of the title of adult and all that it entails. This major life transition is complicated and most of us struggle through this age. Youell (2006) explains that as we get older, “experiences of containment and of well-­‐managed separations are internalized, introjected, in a way that provides the individual with a good internal object, a secure and flexible inner world” (p. 73).

Perhaps, a driver’s license represents the adolescent’s internal sense of responsibility. It gives adolescents a physical thing to hold on to as they navigate the transition into adulthood.

In a time when adolescents are constructing their identity and struggling to understand their role in their family, peer group and community, having an object that represents the transition from adolescence to adulthood is very powerful. Nakkula and Toshalis (2006) explain that Erikson believed “we are forever facing incongruities between our internally defined selves and those selves that are defined, confirmed, or denied by others” (p. 19). To the unsure adolescent, a driver’s license is a physical manifestation of adulthood, which represents responsibly and trust. Getting your driver’s license is legal confirmation that the adolescent hopes to embody those ideals.

As teachers we should respect these developmental milestones are actually incredibly meaningful for the students we work with everyday. Getting a driver’s licence may be the first time most students have the opportunity to prove to the adults in their lives that they are capable. It can be challenging to support adolescents as they tumble through their ever-­‐changing identity but we have to remember that they are on their own path and need to find their own way. Testing the waters and being able to make difficult choices allows us to learn so much more about ourselves. We learn what we think, what we like, and what we value based on choices we make and up until this point someone has been making choices for the adolescent. If we see the adolescent’s driver’s license as a newly acquired piece of plastic, instead of respecting it’s roll in their formation, then we will continue to see students as adolescents and not as the adults they are working to become. This oversight could deprive the adolescent of the opportunity grow by learning to trust themselves. As educators, we need to be open to understanding the importance of this event in the lives of adolescents, and helping them work through the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Youell, B. (2006). Beginnings, endings, and times of transition. In The learning relationship: Psychoanalytic thinking in education. London: Karnac.

Nakkula, M., & Toshalis, E. (2006). Identity in context. In Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Collinson, V., & Hoffman, L. M. (1998). High school as a rite of passage for social and intellectual development.

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Explore

Rita Crocker

Exploring (present progressive tense): ex-­‐ ‘out’ + plorare, explore |ikˈsplôr|, verb [ with obj. ] To travel in or through (an unfamiliar country or area) in order to learn about or familiarize oneself with it.

Adolescents explore the unfamiliar terrain of the mind as their capacity for thought develops from concrete to abstract. According to Nakkula and Toshalis (2012), adolescents discover new notions of themselves in the “fractured landscape” (p. 21) of the family, community and educational spaces they occupy. For the adolescent, identity formation is dynamic and also shaped by “roles, beliefs, behaviors, relationships” (ibid, p. 21), and other forces around them. As an adolescent, I navigated these forces as a student in public school. Following Nakkula and Toshalis, I may have faced, “incongruities between my internally defined selves” and “those selves that were defied, confirmed, and denied by others” (p. 23).

As I explored, I continued to discover aspects of my identity, as many adolescents do during this developmental period.

• [ no obj. ] (explore for) search for resources.

The idea of exploring is an uncomfortable concept for some. According to Davis (2015), an online columnist for Art Net, the word “explore” is too cliché to describe an artist’s practice, because if something is still in the exploration phase, the artist should take more time before publishing their work.

In my view, his description of the artist’s exploratory process appropriately describes adolescence. If Davis were describing the exploratory process of adolescence, it would be “a phase” that takes “time,” full of experiments, successes, and errors. Adolescents are constantly defining and redefining their place in society just as artists do through “a dynamic process of testing, selecting and integrating self images and ideologies” (Nakkula and Toshalis, 2012, p. 20). Also, as Youell (2011) points out, like artists, adolescents are charged with “driving popular culture forward to whatever is to be its next manifestation” (p. 61).

• inquire into or discuss (a subject or issue) in detail. • examine or evaluate (an option or possibility).

Inquiry and discussion about thoughts, anxieties and desires with other youth and trusted adults can lead to the co-­‐construction of an adolescent’s identity. As abstract thinkers exploring new experiences, adolescents need guidance as they flirt with group allegiances, future vocations, or partnerships.

• examine by touch: her fingers explored his hair.

The adolescent’s experience of exploring possible selves extends to the body, which becomes an object of manipulation, adornment, union and flux. Adolescents pierce, tattoo, and touch to understand their bodies, those unlike theirs, and their place in relationship to the adult world.

ORIGIN 16th cent. from French explorer, from Latin explorare ‘search out,’ ‘utter a cry.’

If educators and adults give adolescents room to explore their experiences while teaching them about the risks of exploration, then we become their allies. Youth who feel heard and supported can more confidently explore in the process of mapping out their place and purpose.

Davis, B. (2015). 30 Art cliches to ditch in the new year. Art Net. Retrieved from. http://news.artnet.com/art-­‐world/30-­‐art-­‐writing-­‐cliches-­‐to-­‐ditch-­‐in-­‐the-­‐new-­‐year-­‐ 210836 Toshalis, E., & Nakkula, M. J. (2012). Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators. Harvard Education Press.

Youell, B. (2006). The learning relationship: Psychoanalytic thinking in education. Karnac Books.

Impulsive

Daniella Martinez

Adolescence is characterized by impulsive behavior.

Pulse: to move with strong, regular beats Impulse: a sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act.

Pulse. Pulse. Pulse… IMPULSE…. Pulse. Pulse. IMPULSE. A break in the wave.

When it comes to thinking about adolescent development, there is no knowing when adolescents will act purely out of desire and inspiration. The wave of excitement that drives an adolescent’s actions is often not considered by the adolescent beyond the initial birth of the idea.

How do adolescents learn to think in relation to their impulses? This takes practice and self-­‐discipline.

Adolescents, while still trying to find their own stance in society, are up against other louder, stronger, more influential voices around them. To simply become an independent being (what we might refer to as adulthood, the developmental stage that seems to be the goal of surviving adolescence), requires a reflective process.

In a Ted Talk by cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-­‐Jayne Blakemore, she compares the prefrontal cortex and limbic system of adolescents to adults. Through MRI scans done in a number of controlled experiments, Blakemore shows us that the limbic system is hypersensitive at the adolescent developmental stage. The limbic system is the part of the brain that controls emotions, reward processing and sensory information. While this area is at peak, the prefrontal cortex, associated with regulating our impulsive behavior is still developing. Youell (2006) suggests that learning depends on, “the recognition of the inevitability of time and untimely death.” This, she argues, is “most pronounced as a state of mind developmentally in adolescence, when there is a sense that time is theirs to play with endlessly” (p.14). This speaks to adolescent’s lack of regard for consequences when acting out impulsive behaviors. In the adolescent’s mind, time can feel irrelevant, death is too abstract an idea, and the limbic system rewards their emotional and impulsive actions.

Impulsive behavior may be the way in which identity formation begins to take shape. According to Nakkula and Toshalis (2006), “Erikson’s theory begins in the classic Freudian vein of psychosexual development, which argues that psychological well-­‐being require(s) an ongoing negotiation between the individual’s innate biological drives and the normative expectations of the family and society” (p.19). In the adolescent stage of development, testing and integration of practices characterizes the dynamic process of identity formation. In Erikson’s theory this stage is referred to as “identity vs role confusion.”

Adults and educators can think of impulsive behavior as a positive expression of adolescent development. This “trying out” of different roles and identities through impulsive behaviors is what will eventually lead to a state of maturation. Lastly, impulsive behavior is a form of play, it allows for dynamic thought processes, social interactions, and consequently, cognitive development leading to identity formation.

TEDGlobal. (2012). Sarah-­‐Jayne Blakemore: The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain. http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolesce nt_brain?language=en#t-­‐311147 Nakkula, N.J. & Toshalis, E. (2006). Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Youell, B. (2006). The learning relationship: Psychoanalytic thinking in education (The Tavistock clinic series). London: Karnac Books.

Selfie

Mary Milliken

The keyword I chose is “selfie.” I chose this word because it is commonly associated both with youth and superficiality. Selfies have become a widely used platform for adolescents to perceive themselves, interact with their peers and test social boundaries. I argue that the selfie cannot be considered superficial if adolescents use it so often as a tool of self expression, as a safe space to explore identities, and as a method to document personal history.

According to the dictionary, a selfie is a noun, defined as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.

According to the #selfie archives on Instagram, selfies are primarily taken by young people, appearing to be between the ages of twelve and twenty-­‐five. Many of them are pouting, cocking their neck to the side, or raising one eyebrow. Some emphasize their bodies, others their face.

Nearly all subjects are posing, and there is a high prevalence of giving the peace sign. In my own experience, I have used selfies to document events (an athletic milestone, spending time with friends, holidays, etc.) or to share a photograph of myself that I find to be aesthetically pleasing.

I particularly hope to preserve moments that I want to remember in the future. Selfies also serve as a way to tell the world where I am, what I’m doing, and who I am with.

Selfies can start a conversation between adults and adolescents. They are an interactive mirror, reflecting an adolescent’s image and possible emotions or identity struggles. For adults struggling to communicate with adolescents, selfies can give us access to the other side of that mirror. Adults can facilitate a dialogue by asking the adolescent why they took a particular selfie and what they may have been feeling at the time they took it. For some adolescents, selfies can act as a container for anxiety (Youell, 2006, p. 81), providing a symbolic, safe space in which to put their emotions, perhaps a space that school and family cannot provide. For others, selfies can be a glimpse into the development, thoughts, and feelings of an adolescent as they attempt to assert their identity or identities. Sometimes selfies can reveal an adolescent’s struggle to find the identity they feel most comfortable with (Nakkula and Toshalis, 2006, p. 30).

Selfies can also help adults understand an adolescent’s thought process as it relates to their self-­‐perception. For example, although the subject of a selfie may look happy, that is not always the case. Taking selfies can help adults and educators explore the perspective of adolescents through experiential learning: adults can use selfies as a means to explore their own struggles with identity in order to empathize with an adolescent’s experience. Adults can ask: how did I feel when taking that selfie? How might I relate to the adolescent’s experience and emotions? For artists, selfies can be used as an aid in portrait or figure drawing. If one wants to draw a portrait, selfies are accessible, quick, and portable. In addition, artists can examine how adolescent identity is explored through image and portraiture.

Nakkula, M., E. Toshalis. (2006) Understanding youth: adolescent development for educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Sifferlin, A. (2013, September 6). Why selfies matter. TIME.com. Retrieved from http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/06/why-­‐selfies-­‐matter/ Youell, B. (2006). The learning relationship. London, UK: Karnac Books.

Adolescence: A Snapshot was created by graduate students in the Art Education Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in the course ARTED 5220: Psychological, Sociological and Phenomenological Approaches to Teaching (Spring 2015).

This course is taught by Professor Karyn Sandlos ksandl@saic.edu

To visit SAIC’s Art Education Department website, please follow this link:

http://www.saic.edu/degrees_resources/departments/arted/index.html